Despite the recent progress and improvements in safety of the lithium ion batteries (such as PTC, CID, shutdown separators), chemical shuttles, cathode additives etc. used in portable electronics, there are still safety concerns associated with the high energy density large scale batteries for electric vehicles and consumer applications. Flame retardant additives are added to the electrolyte to prevent or delay the onset of thermal runaway in the battery due mechanical, electrical or thermal abuse.
However, there are still safety challenges such as flammability of lithium-ion batteries under abuse conditions or even normal conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,600 to Narang et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 8,795,903 to Smart et al. teach the use of flame retardant electrolyte compositions containing select phosphate-based non-aqueous solvents. Therefore, there is a need to incorporate novel multi-functional TRI additives to improve the safety of high energy lithium ion batteries and lithium metal anode batteries.